Podcasts by What It Takes®
Revealing, intimate conversations with visionaries and leaders in the arts, science, technology, public service, sports and business. These engaging personal stories are drawn from interviews with the American Academy of Achievement, and offer insights you’ll want to apply to your own life.
Further podcasts by Academy of Achievement
Podcast on the topic Tagebücher
All episodes
This is.... What It Takes from 2023-12-13T12:55:52.861453
In this brief introductory episode we explain what the podcast is all about (rare & revealing conversations with history-making, game-changing, courageous people)... we give you a sense of the k...
Listen
This is.... What It Takes from 2022-03-07T02:18:53.704600
In this brief introductory episode we explain what the podcast is all about (rare & revealing conversations with history-making, game-changing, courageous people)... we give you a sense of t...
Listen
This is.... What It Takes from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.760263
In this brief introductory episode we explain what the podcast is all about (rare & revealing conversations with history-making, game-changing, courageous people)... we give you a sense of the kind...
Listen
Oprah Winfrey, Part 2: A Vision for Success from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.756441
Oprah Winfrey’s career in broadcasting started when she won Nashville’s Miss Fire Prevention Contest. She was 17.
Part Two of our Oprah conversation focuses on Oprah’s life in media....
James Michener: Master Storyteller from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.751932
James Michener was born to tell stories. He was one of the most popular and best-selling American novelists of all time… able to merge equal parts fiction, history, geography and culture into a per...
Listen
George Lucas: The Force Will Be With You from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.749944
George Lucas’s only dream as a teenager was to race cars, but he went on to create the most popular films in motion picture history. Along the way, while writing and directing Star Wars, Indiana J...
Listen
Lee Berger: In the Footsteps of Eve from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.748215
Lee Berger has made two extraordinary scientific breakthroughs that are transforming our understanding of human evolution. Berger is a trailblazing paleoanthropologist. His most recent discover...
Listen
Andrew Young: My Life, My Destiny from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.746317
Andrew Young has worn many hats: pastor, congressman, ambassador & mayor, but his first role in public service was as Martin Luther King Jr’s strategist and negotiator. He was at King’s side for ...
Listen
Ray Dalio: Maestro of the Markets from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.740086
How do you become a multi-billionaire, and the most successful hedge fund manager ever? Ray Dalio attributes his success to transcendental meditation and what he calls "radical honesty.” In this ...
Listen
Steven Spielberg and Janusz Kaminski: Images of the Imagination from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.737904
Steven Spielberg hired Janusz Kaminski as the cinematographer for "Schindler's List” twenty-five years ago, and they have worked together, hand-in-glove, ever since. Their collaboration has produc...
Listen
Carole King and Hal David: More Than Beautiful from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.736120
While listening to this episode, we dare you to NOT sing out loud. Carole King and Hal David were each one half of a legendary songwriting duo, and each responsible for many of the greatest songs ...
Listen
Sir Roger Bannister: The Mile of the Century from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.734188
When Englishman Roger Bannister was studying medicine at Oxford in the 1940's, he began to have great success as a member of the track team. He knew enough about physiology to question a long-held ...
Listen
Doris Kearns Goodwin: Presidential Ambitions from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.689094
When Doris Kearns Goodwin was six year old, she used to carefully document the Brooklyn Dodgers' games. And that, she says, eventually led her to the career she now has, as one of America's favo...
Listen
Albie Sachs: Freedom Fighter from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.687490
Albie Sachs awoke one day in 1988 in a Mozambican hospital, with no remembrance of the car bomb that had maimed his body. But it hadn't broken his will to remain in the struggle to end Apartheid i...
Listen
Maya Angelou, Part 2: In the Spirit of Martin from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.685648
Maya Angelou was a civil rights activist and a friend of Martin Luther King Jr., years before she became known throughout the world for her memoir “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." In this, the s...
Listen
Leslie Wexner: Victoria's Other Secret from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.675375
This is the story of Les Wexner's path, from a tiny, old-fashioned neighborhood store in Columbus, Ohio, owned by his immigrant father... to one of the biggest retail empires in the world. His co...
Listen
Sally Ride and Eileen Collins: Wonder Women from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.673547
Sally Ride was the first American woman to rocket into space. Eileen Collins was the first woman to command the Space Shuttle. These two astronauts changed history and broke a very high glass cei...
Listen
Rosa Parks and Judge Frank Johnson: Standing Up for Freedom from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.671879
In the fall of 1955, Rosa Parks refused to stand for a white passenger on the bus, Martin Luther King Jr. was chosen to lead the boycott that followed, and a lawyer named Frank Johnson was appoin...
Listen
Leon Panetta: Decisive Action from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.665874
The last time the budget of the United States was balanced - and even had a surplus - Leon Panetta was in charge of it, as Director of the Office of Management & Budget. From the Nixon years throu...
Listen
Ernest J. Gaines: Letters of My Ancestors from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.664258
Ernest Gaines grew up in the 1930's and 40's on the same Louisiana plantation where his ancestors were once slaves. After he became a successful and celebrated novelist, he returned, bought the lan...
Listen
Jimmy Page: Guitar Hero from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.662448
Jimmy Page’s plan all along was to transform rock n’ roll. And he did. The band he founded, Led Zeppelin, remains one of the most influential and popular rock bands in history. Page is one of the...
Listen
Edward Teller: Destroyer of Worlds from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.660928
The "Father of the Hydrogen Bomb", the force behind Reagan's Star Wars initiative, and the model for "Dr. Strangelove" was a Hungarian math prodigy who fled Hitler's Germany. In America, he beca...
Listen
Kazuo Ishiguro: Lyrical Tales of Emotion from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.653233
This Nobel Prize-winning writer — the author of “Remains of the Day” and “Never Let Me Go” — started out as a singer songwriter. He talks here about falling in love with language at 13, while liste...
Listen
Julie Andrews: An Angel on My Shoulder from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.651597
Who doesn’t love Julie Andrews? She has delighted generations of audiences, whether singing on the London Vaudeville circuit, in the Broadway productions of *My Fair Lady* & *Camelot*, or in the ...
Listen
Jessye Norman: Living My Life in Song from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.649711
This global icon of the concert stage was planning to become a doctor, but her voice was too powerful a force. Jessye Norman tells the story of falling in love with opera on the radio, and hearing...
Listen
Peyton Manning and Herschel Walker: Preparing to Win from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.594195
Inspiring tales and life lessons from two of the most legendary players in football history. One grew up the son of an NFL quarterback, and one the son of a farmer, but for both, the key to living ...
Listen
Lynsey Addario: Portraits of Love and War from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.592618
This Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist has covered wars and humanitarian crises in 70 countries, including Iraq, Libya & Afghanistan. She has been kidnapped twice and she’s been badly injured...
Listen
Lord Martin Rees: The Future of Humanity from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.590827
We have Lord Martin Rees to thank for much of what we understand about black holes, quasars, and other distant objects in the night sky.
He is England’s Astronomer Royal, and has spent the pas...
Rita Dove and W.S. Merwin: A Gift for Language from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.589276
Two of America's greatest poets - both former Poet Laureates and Pulitzer Prize winners - get to the heart of why poems speak to us when other forms of language fail. They also share stories about...
Listen
Peter Gabriel: Genesis of a Rock Star from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.581368
"Sledgehammer," "In Your Eyes," and "Red Rain" are some of the hits that made Peter Gabriel a rock superstar in the 1970's and 80's. Before he became a solo artist, he was already a star -- as lea...
Listen
General David Petraeus: The Perils of Victory from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.577829
He is considered by many to be the greatest military strategist since Dwight D. Eisenhower. General David Petraeus was the man President George W. Bush turned to, four years into the War in Iraq, ...
Listen
Anthony Romero: Guardian of Civil Liberties from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.576218
In honor of the 4th of July, we are featuring the foremost champion of civil liberties in America, and a man who embodies the American Dream: Anthony Romero. He tells the inspiring story here of ...
Listen
Lord Norman Foster: Building the Future from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.571960
This is the story of a working class son of Manchester, England, who came to change skylines around the globe, envision a future for architecture that is in harmony with the environment, and design...
Listen
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa: The Fairytale Diva from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.560911
She was a Maori child from a working class family, who grew up by the sea in a remote New Zealand town... So how did Kiri Te Kanawa rise to become one of the greatest sopranos of all time? She tell...
Listen
Wole Soyinka: The Literary Lion from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.559302
Africa's preeminent writer, and one of its greatest advocates for democracy and justice, talks here about the activism that landed him in solitary confinement for two years during Nigeria's civil w...
Listen
Martine Rothblatt: Transcending Boundaries from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.557377
She is a Renaissance Person extraordinaire: a lawyer, an inventor, a biotech innovator, a futurist, a transgender activist, and one of the most successful female CEO's of all time. Martine Rothbla...
Listen
Daniel Inouye and Norman Mineta: In Defense of Liberty from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.538228
The most decorated regiment in US history was the 442nd, a segregated Japanese-American unit that fought in Europe after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. But while they were bravely risking their lives...
Listen
Milton Friedman: Champion of Capitalism from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.488518
He was an outspoken proponent of the free market and small government, and one of the most influential economists of all time. Milton Friedman's ideas on monetary policy, taxation, privatization an...
Listen
Julie Taymor: Creativity on the Edge from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.484836
She is best known for creating "The Lion King" on Broadway, but Julie Taymor has spent her whole career pushing the bounds of creativity - in theater, in opera and in film. She talks here about he...
Listen
Stephen Jay Gould: This View of Life from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.483178
He knew from the age of five that he was going to become a paleontologist, but he also became one of the most important evolutionary theorists since Darwin. As a Harvard professor, he inspired gene...
Listen
Best of - Coretta Scott King: The Courage to Dream from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.482126
The United States seemed poised for a new day in 1963, when the March on Washington drew a quarter million people. And yet, throughout the intervening fifty-seven years, Martin Luther King Jr’s dre...
Listen
Best of - Maya Angelou: Righteousness and Love from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.479507
Maya Angelou took the harshest experiences in her life and turned them into words of triumph, justice and hope. Her memoirs and her poems told of her survival, and uplifted people around the world....
Listen
Best of - Louise Glück: Revenge Against Circumstance from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.470482
Louise Glück, winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize for Literature, uses simple, unsentimental language in her poems to evoke overwhelming emotions. That rare combination is what has distinguished her as ...
Listen
Willie Brown: The Political Life from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.468875
No one could work a room like Willie Brown. He was the consummate politician and public servant, and a true American original. He started life in a small, segregated Texas town, worked as a shoeshi...
Listen
Shelby Foote, Arthur Golden and Carol Shields: Literary Pursuits from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.466879
Three remarkable novelists, from very different backgrounds, peel back the curtain on how they write, why they write, and what they write. Arthur Golden is the author of Memoirs of a Geisha, the o...
Listen
Larry King: The King of Talk from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.461713
No one could shmooze quite like Larry King. He turned it into an art, and turned himself into a legendary broadcaster. He often didn't prepare for his interviews (more than 50,000 over the course ...
Listen
John Mather, Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess: Masters of the Universe from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.458499
Much of what we know about the universe, we've learned in the past 25 years. These three astrophysicists, all Nobel laureates, were key to unlocking some of its greatest mysteries, including that t...
Listen
Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and Robert Zemeckis: The Magic of Film from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.453753
A stunning assemblage of filmmakers who shaped cinema in the late 20th century: Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Robert DeNiro and Robert Zemeckis. Their personal journeys are inspiring, unli...
Listen
Robert Ballard: Modern-Day Captain Nemo from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.447472
He’s a modern-day Captain Nemo - the person responsible for much of what we’ve learned about the Earth’s oceans over the past sixty years. He’s best-known as the person who discovered the Titanic a...
Listen
Christiane Amanpour: Life on the Front Line from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.444688
She is one of the most recognized, respected and admired journalists in the world. Christiane Amanpour has covered just about every war and conflict of the past four decades and she has never shied...
Listen
Denton Cooley, Willem Kolff and William DeVries: King of Hearts from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.442517
The 1960's, 70's and 80's brought about a revolution in the treatment of heart and kidney disease. Dialysis, organ transplants, coronary bypass, open heart surgery and many other procedures that w...
Listen
Zahi Hawass and Kent Weeks: Golden Age of the Pharaohs from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.439872
Much of what we've learned over the past half-century about the ancient Egyptians, we've learned from these two archaeologists. They've both made major discoveries and have played a crucial role in...
Listen
Best of - Steven Spielberg and Janusz Kaminski: Images of the Imagination from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.436990
Steven Spielberg hired Janusz Kaminski as the cinematographer for "Schindler's List” twenty-five years ago, and they have worked together, hand-in-glove, ever since. Their collaboration has produce...
Listen
Best of - Sidney Poitier: Trailblazing Screen Legend from 2022-02-22T16:59:51.433968
Sidney Poitier changed America’s view of black men. And he changed Hollywood. The star of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “The Defiant Ones,” and “In The Heat of the Night” became, in 1964, the fir...
Listen
Best of - Rosa Parks and Judge Frank Johnson: Standing Up for Freedom from 2022-02-14T15:37:06
In the fall of 1955, Rosa Parks refused to stand for a white passenger on the bus, Martin Luther King Jr. was chosen to lead the boycott that followed, and a lawyer named Frank Johnson was appointe...
Listen
Tenley Albright: Miracles on Ice from 2022-01-31T08:05
Every time the Olympics roll around, we’re regaled with inspiring stories of the athletes. Well, it’s hard to imagine a more inspiring story than this one, from long ago. Tenley Albright was the ve...
Listen
E.O. Wilson, Richard Evans Schultes and Wade Davis: Pl(ants) of the Gods from 2022-01-17T08:05
E.O. Wilson was sometimes called "the father of biodiversity," sometimes "a modern-day Darwin," and sometimes simply "Ant Man." His recent death was an enormous loss to the world of biology and env...
Listen
Best of - Archbishop Desmond Tutu: The Power of Faith from 2021-12-27T08:05
Desmond Tutu was the moral force that helped bring down Apartheid in South Africa. As a young priest, he was not very political, despite the fact that he’d grown up under the most brutal form of se...
Listen
Edna O’Brien: Love, Loss and Literature from 2021-12-13T08:05
Edna O'Brien's first novel, "The Country Girls," was banned in Ireland, and burned in her own home parish. The year was 1960, and young Irish women of that era were NOT supposed to reflect on thei...
Listen
Best of - Stephen Sondheim: Maestro of Broadway from 2021-11-29T08:05
He grew up next door to Oscar Hammerstein and became his greatest protege. In 1957, he wrote the lyrics for "West Side Story," and for the next 60 years dominated the world of musical theater, and ...
Listen
Best of - Carole King and Hal David: More Than Beautiful from 2021-11-22T08:05
While listening to this episode, we dare you to NOT sing out loud. Carole King and Hal David were each one half of a legendary songwriting duo, and each responsible for many of the greatest songs o...
Listen
Best of - General Colin Powell: My American Journey from 2021-10-25T07:05
Colin Powell, who died on October 18, 2021, wore many hats during his distinguished career in public service, among them: Secretary of State, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and National Sec...
Listen
Best of - Johnny Cash: True To His Own Voice from 2021-10-18T07:05
He had a voice that could make a mountain quake. And his impact on the world of music is legendary. As fans prepare to celebrate the arrival of a new Johnny Cash album -- recorded live in 1968 but ...
Listen
Best of - George Lucas: The Force Will Be With You from 2021-09-20T07:05
George Lucas’s only dream as a teenager was to race cars, but he went on to create the most popular films in motion picture history. Along the way, while writing and directing Star Wars, Indiana J...
Listen
Hamid Karzai: Chaos Rules from 2021-08-23T07:05
Two decades ago, he rode into Afghanistan on a motorcycle with just three compatriots, hoping to overthrow the brutal Taliban regime. Against all odds, Hamid Karzai succeeded, and became president ...
Listen
Best of - James Michener: Master Storyteller from 2021-08-16T07:05
James Michener was born to tell stories. He was one of the most popular and best-selling American novelists of all time… able to merge equal parts fiction, history, geography and culture into a per...
Listen
Nadine Gordimer, Athol Fugard and Elie Wiesel: Messengers of Humanity from 2021-07-19T07:05
These three writers used the power of their pens to expose and explore man's inhumanity to man. You'll hear the presentations they gave at the Academy of Achievement's International Summits. Sout...
Listen
Best of - Sir Roger Bannister: The Mile of the Century from 2021-07-12T07:05
On the morning of May 6th, 1954, Roger Bannister achieved what most people believed was not humanly possible: he ran a mile in under four minutes. It is considered one of the greatest athletic ach...
Listen
Twyla Tharp and Justin Peck: High Priests of Creative Movement from 2021-06-28T07:05
These two choreographers have pushed dance in bold new directions and brought it to a much wider audience. Both Twyla Tharp and Justin Peck are classically-trained dancers who have created works fo...
Listen
Best of - Mike (Coach K) Krzyzewski: Inspiring Greatness from 2021-06-14T07:05
Coach K, as Mike Krzyzewski is best known, has had more wins than any other men's basketball coach in the NCAA... by a long shot. He's also the proud owner of three Olympic Gold Medals, from his t...
Listen
Richard Leakey and Donald Johanson: The Quest for Humankind from 2021-05-31T07:05
What makes us human? And how did we get here? It's only human to want to know. These two renowned paleo-anthropologists have unlocked enormous gaps in our origin story. Each of them discovered some...
Listen
Best of - Bill Russell: Giant of a Man from 2021-05-17T07:05
When the NBA playoffs come around each year, it's always worth revisiting the story of Bill Russell. Russell was the force behind the most astonishing winning streak in the history of sports. His ...
Listen
Best Of - Willie Mays: For the Love of the Game from 2021-04-26T07:05
Willie Mays was featured in one of our very first episodes. We're taking a second listen today, to celebrate the legendary center fielder's 90th birthday (on May 4th).
Baseball fans may ar...
Carol Guzy: Visual Storyteller from 2021-04-12T07:05
There are only a handful of people who've won four Pulitzer Prizes. One of them is photo-journalist Carol Guzy. She has spent most of her life using her compassionate and creative eye to document t...
Listen
Sal Khan: The World's Teacher from 2021-03-29T07:05
Khan Academy may be the most revolutionary tool created for learning since the advent of pencil and paper. It is a critical educational equalizer - providing 1,000's of free online lessons in math...
Listen
Larry Ellison and Ted Turner: Prophets of Innovation from 2021-03-15T07:05
One of these tycoons changed the way businesses collect and use data. The other transformed television and created the 24 hour news cycle. One was born the son of a successful businessman. The ot...
Listen
Audra McDonald: Trusting Your Own Power from 2021-02-15T08:05
From the time she was nine years old, she knew she wanted to be on Broadway, but Audra McDonald has succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. She has earned six Tony Awards, more than any other actor. S...
Listen
Best of - Hank Aaron: Field of Dreams from 2021-01-23T08:05
Babe Ruth's home run record held for almost four decades. But then Hank Aaron came along and smashed it. On the way to making baseball history, Aaron persevered through poverty, segregation, raci...
Listen
Neil Sheehan and David Halberstam: Truth Seekers from 2021-01-18T08:05
These two brave reporters risked their lives and their reputations during the war in Vietnam, to reveal the truth to the American people about what was happening there. Both describe here - how and...
Listen
Best of - Benazir Bhutto: Paying the Ultimate Price from 2021-01-11T08:05
Most Americans simply could not believe their eyes this week, when a violent mob staged an insurrection in the US Capitol. It was the kind of thing that happens in other countries - where the trans...
Listen
Trevor Nunn: A Love Letter to Theater from 2020-12-28T08:05
He's one of the greatest all-time directors of Shakespeare, and has directed every one of the Bard's plays. But he's also directed 34 shows on Broadway, including "Cats" and "Les Miserables", and ...
Listen
Judy Collins: Amazing Grace from 2020-12-14T08:05
There's no mistaking Judy Collins' voice. She sang us through the 1960's and '70's, and hasn't stopped since. Today at 81, her voice is still strong and gorgeous. It reveals no signs of the struggl...
Listen
Wayne Thiebaud and Fritz Scholder: Palette of American Life from 2020-11-14T17:49:06
In celebration of painter Wayne Thiebaud's 100th birthday, we feature a conversation with the artist and with one of his most renowned students, Fritz Scholder. Thiebaud's paintings of pies, cupcak...
Listen
David McCullough, Stephen Ambrose and David Herbert Donald: Time Travelers from 2020-10-19T07:05
The best-known biographies of Presidents Lincoln, Adams, Eisenhower, Truman, Nixon were written by the three great historians featured here. They talk about their subjects as if they had gone back ...
Listen
Sandra Day O’Connor, Erma Bombeck and Hilary Swank: The Power Within from 2020-09-28T07:05:05
What do the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, a comedic newspaper columnist and an Academy Award-winning actress have in common? On the face of it, not much. But these three trailblazing women...
Listen
Best of - Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Justice For All from 2020-09-19T13:27:52
In tribute to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who has died at the age of 87, we are re-posting this episode. It originally aired in September of 2016. Justice Ginsburg tells the very personal story he...
Listen
Cal Ripken Jr.: The Iron Man from 2020-09-14T07:05:01
Show up. Be there for your team. Play your best. These are the values that Cal Ripken Jr. embodied - every single day of his career. His commitment to baseball was beyond compare. Ripken holds the...
Listen
Joyce Carol Oates and Gore Vidal: Words Become Me from 2020-08-31T07:05:07
This is a story about two of the greatest and most prolific writers in post-WWII America, who grew up in dramatically different circumstances. Joyce Carol Oates was a hardworking farm girl from a ...
Listen
John Hume and David Trimble: A Vision of Peace from 2020-08-17T07:10:11
These two remarkable men, from opposite sides of the 30-year "Troubles" in Northern Ireland, bravely reached across the divide and waged peace. They were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998. Joh...
Listen
Best of - Olivia de Havilland: The Last Belle of Cinema from 2020-08-10T07:05:01
Olivia de Havilland, who just passed away at the age of 104, was the last of the Hollywood's leading ladies from the Golden Age. She is best known for portraying Melanie Hamilton in "Gone With The...
Listen
Pitbull (Armando Christian Pérez): I’m Possible from 2020-07-27T07:05:21
He grew up on the tough streets of Miami in the 1980s, dealing drugs and learning how to survive. But this first generation Cuban-American took the stage name Pitbull, and became a wildly successf...
Listen
Best of - John Lewis: The Spirit of History from 2020-07-19T17:36:40
In honor of Congressman John Lewis, who died of pancreatic cancer on July 17th, we are re-posting this episode. It was originally published in January, 2020. Lewis spent his whole life trying to g...
Listen
Ron Howard: Imagine Success from 2020-07-13T07:05:01
He has had one of the longest and most celebrated careers in Hollywood history, and it's still on overdrive. As a director, Ron Howard has worked in almost every genre. His films include Solo: A St...
Listen
Orhan Pamuk and Carlos Fuentes: The Art of Fiction from 2020-06-29T07:05:05
Two world-renowned novelists, from different corners of the globe, talk about why they write. Orhan Pamuk, from Turkey, is the 2006 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Carlos Fuentes, who died...
Listen
Bryan Stevenson and John Hope Franklin: Voices of Conscience from 2020-06-15T07:05:09
Both of these men grew up under segregation, 50 years apart, and each became an important force for truth and for justice. John Hope Franklin was a pre-eminent historian, whose scholarship focused...
Listen
Lt. Michael Thornton and Lt. Tommy Norris: Portraits of Valor from 2020-05-18T07:05:08
In 1972, a Navy Seal named Thomas Norris carried out one of the most dangerous and daring rescue missions of the war in Vietnam. Six months later, he would be rescued himself, in an equally dramati...
Listen
Best Of - Jonas Salk: Vanquisher of Polio from 2020-04-27T07:05:11
One of our very first episodes featured a rare interview with Dr. Jonas Salk, who developed the Polio vaccine at a time of tremendous panic. Today, as scientists around the world intensify efforts ...
Listen
Gertrude Elion and Baruch Blumberg: Vaccine Hunters from 2020-04-20T07:05:02
Millions of lives are saved each year with the vaccines developed by these two Nobel Prize recipients. Their discoveries were some of the greatest medical achievements of the 20th century. Ger...
Listen
Best Of - Anthony Fauci: From Aristotle to AIDS from 2020-04-13T07:05:02
If Anthony Fauci was not on your radar before the Covid-19 pandemic, he certainly is now. Dr. Fauci is a lead member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, and a trusted daily presence in the n...
Listen
James Allison: Immune to Failure from 2020-03-23T07:05:13
There’s one person who can claim to have played harmonica with Willie Nelson AND been awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine… and that's James (Jim) Allison. Dr. Allison is the scientist who unlocked ...
Listen
Buddy Guy: I’ve Got the Blues from 2020-02-24T08:05:02
For 50 years, he has carried the torch for the blues. Buddy Guy learned by listening to the greats that came before him, and then he made the blues his own. He is one of the greatest guitarists of...
Listen
Lynn Nottage and Suzan-Lori Parks: Drama Queens from 2020-02-10T08:05:20
Two of the most daring and celebrated playwrights working today talk about their lives, their work, and why they love writing for the stage. Both Lynn Nottage and Suzan-Lori Parks have won the Pu...
Listen
John Lewis: The Spirit of History from 2020-01-27T08:05:10
This son of a sharecropper tells the story of how he grew up to become a legendary leader of the Civil Rights Movement and a 17-term Congressman from the state of Georgia. He describes his politica...
Listen
Bill Gates, Sergey Brin and Larry Page: Tech Titans from 2020-01-13T08:05:03
These three visionaries changed the way we live our daily lives. You'll hear remarkable archival recordings of each, when they were young successful entrepreneurs, but before history had proven th...
Listen
Vince Gill: Country Music Icon from 2019-12-30T08:05:10
He has won more Grammy Awards than any other male country singer, but Vince Gill never set out to be a star. He just wanted to play guitar and sing, and you can hear his reverence for music in thi...
Listen
Andrew Lloyd Webber: Theatrical Impresario from 2019-12-16T08:05:02
It’s undisputed: Andrew Lloyd Webber has written more blockbuster musicals than any composer alive. He talks here about falling in love with musical theater in the 1950’s, and about writing his fir...
Listen
Ian McEwan: Illuminating the Human Condition from 2019-11-18T13:31:05
He is one of the most compelling storytellers of our time... a novelist who addresses broad societal themes while plumbing the depths of intimate human relationships. Ian McEwan, the author of "At...
Listen
Jennifer Doudna and Feng Zhang: The Code of Life from 2019-10-21T07:05:01
One of the most significant revolutions in science is underway, and yet most people haven't even heard of it. It's called CRISPR, and it is an easy, inexpensive process for cutting and pasting DNA ...
Listen
Amy Tan: Discovering My Voice from 2019-09-23T07:05:01
When Amy Tan wrote her first book, The Joy Luck Club, she was trying to portray the difficult relationship she had had with her mother, a Chinese immigrant to the United States, and the emotional ...
Listen
Toni Morrison and Harold Prince: Immortal Voices from 2019-08-26T07:05:01
Toni Morrison was a novelist and Nobel Prize Winner, who carved a space for African-American women’s voices and stories. Hal Prince was a producer & director, who had a hand in shaping Broadway fo...
Listen
Peter Jackson: Master of Film Fantasy from 2019-08-12T07:05:20
Peter Jackson grew up in a country without any film industry or film schools, and yet, he only ever wanted to do one thing: make movies. The story of how he came to direct The Lord of the Rings (a...
Listen
Sylvia Earle and David Doubilet: The Living Oceans from 2019-07-29T07:05:02
The ocean covers 70% of the earth. It regulates our climate and it provides most of the oxygen we breathe. And yet we still know very little about it. Well, this is the story of two people who hav...
Listen
Hank Aaron: Field of Dreams from 2019-07-15T07:05:13
Babe Ruth's home run record held for almost four decades. But then Hank Aaron came along and smashed it. On the way to making baseball history, Aaron persevered through poverty, segregation, raci...
Listen
Alice Waters: A Love Affair with Food from 2019-06-17T07:01
Alice Waters has been called a food revolutionary. In 1971, she opened a cozy restaurant in Berkeley, California called Chez Panisse. It showcased seasonal, local, organic fruits and vegetables an...
Listen
Suzanne Farrell: Ballerina of the Century from 2019-05-20T07:01
Ballet changed course on the day that George Balanchine met Suzanne Farrell. It was 1960. He was 56. She was 15, and had just arrived in New York from small-town Ohio, with dreams of becoming a pro...
Listen
Jimmy Carter: From Plains to the Presidency from 2019-04-22T07:01
It’s a remarkable American story: a poor peanut farmer from the Deep South becomes a nuclear naval officer, then governor of Georgia, and finally President of the United States. And what Jimmy Car...
Listen
Brendan Sullivan: Standing Up to Power from 2019-03-25T07:01
If you're a senator, a military leader, or a business executive accused of wrongdoing, Brendan Sullivan is the lawyer you probably want to call. Sullivan is considered one of the greatest trial law...
Listen
Susan Butcher: Call of the Wild from 2019-03-11T07:01
This is the story of a true original... a woman who dominated the extreme sport of dog sled racing for years, was a four-time winner of the Iditarod (the grueling, thousand-mile race across Alaska)...
Listen
Frances Arnold: A Nobel Vision from 2019-02-25T08:01
Thirty years ago, Dr. Arnold had an idea: to breed molecules in the laboratory the way we breed animals - to bring out the traits we want in them. The molecules she was particularly interested in...
Listen
Michael Caine: An Accent on Life from 2019-02-11T08:01
He has been nominated for an Academy Award in every one of the past five decades, and won twice, for "Hannah And Her Sisters" and "The Cider House Rules". Fifteen year olds think of him as Alfred...
Listen
John Updike: Dreams from My Mother from 2019-01-28T08:01
John Updike used his unique literary talents to peel back the layers of middle-class American life, exposing its less-than-placid exterior. He was one of the most prolific and esteemed American wr...
Listen
Chuck Yeager: The Right Stuff from 2019-01-14T08:01
The man who broke the sound barrier in the experimental Bell X-1, and ushered in the era of manned spacecraft, never saw a plane when he was growing up in the hills of West Virginia. But he became...
Listen
Johnny Mathis: Timeless Voice of Romance from 2018-12-31T08:01
He is one of the romantic singers of all time... with a voice people often compare to satin, to silk or to velvet. It's hard to describe, but you sure know it when you hear it. Johnny Mathis talks...
Listen
Stephen Sondheim: Maestro of Broadway from 2018-12-17T08:01
He grew up next door to Oscar Hammerstein and became his greatest protege. In 1957, Sondheim wrote the lyrics for "West Side Story," and for the next 60 years dominated the world of musical theate...
Listen
Sir Edmund Hillary and Reinhold Messner: King of the Mountain from 2018-11-19T08:01
Man's relationship to mountain was forever changed by these two adventurers. Sir Edmund Hillary was the first person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. A generation later, Reinhold Messner becam...
Listen
Leymah Gbowee: A Call from God from 2018-10-22T07:01
This story is a testament to the power of one person to change the world. When civil war broke out in Liberia, Leymah Gbowee was 17 years old. Over the next fourteen years it would become one of ...
Listen
Norman Schwarzkopf: Duty, Honor, Country from 2018-09-24T07:01
The last time the United States had a grand military parade was in 1991, following the swift, crushing victory over Iraq in the Persian Gulf War. General Schwarzkopf was the commander of that war, ...
Listen
Bernie Taupin: Lyrical Inspiration from 2018-08-27T07:01
When Elton John and Bernie Taupin met as teenagers, they were each talented and full of potential, but together, they were unstoppable. For over 50 years, with Taupin as lyricist and John as compo...
Listen
Khaled Hosseini, Scott Turow and Charles Krauthammer: Second Lives from 2018-08-13T07:01
If you’ve ever dreamed of reinventing yourself, take inspiration from these three writers. Each one followed a traditional career path, before turning the page to pick up pen & paper. Khaled Hosse...
Listen
Beverly and Dereck Joubert: Spirit of the Wild from 2018-07-30T07:01
The look in a lion's eye, fixated on its prey... the sound of a hyena taking down a zebra foal... the tender ministrations of an elephant. For over 40 years, the Jouberts (National Geographic Expl...
Listen
Anthony Fauci: From Aristotle to AIDS from 2018-07-16T07:01
This is the story of a remarkable doctor who, in 1981, became one of the first scientists to recognize that we were on the verge of a new and terrible epidemic - HIV/AIDS - and then devoted his car...
Listen
John Banville: Literary Confessions from 2018-06-18T07:01
A darkly funny conversation about writing, weather & Ireland. Banville, a Booker Prize-winning novelist and master wordsmith, explains why nothing in the world is more powerful than the sentence. ...
Listen
Andrew Weil: The Healing Power of Nature from 2018-05-21T07:01
Dr. Weil has been on a decades-long campaign to convince the medical establishment that the mind-body connection is real, and that many alternative forms of healing should be combined with conventi...
Listen
Demis Hassabis: A.I. Mastermind from 2018-04-23T07:01
Artificial Intelligence is already changing the course of society, and it’s only in its infancy. Hear one of the most innovative and successful thinkers in the field describe the coming revolution...
Listen
Wallace Stegner and N. Scott Momaday: Chroniclers of the American West from 2018-04-11T23:50
These two great American writers reflect on their place in the landscape, the history and the culture of the West. One is Kiowa Indian, one is White. One was raised in Arizona and New Mexico, one...
Listen
Steve Schwarzman: King of Wall Street from 2018-03-26T08:03
Take a peek into the mind of Stephen Schwarzman, the financier who established a little financial startup called Blackstone with $400,000 in seed capital, and transformed it into one of the largest...
Listen
Bartlett Sher: A Reason to Sing from 2018-03-12T07:01
Going to see live theater, Bartlett Sher believes, is a unique experience... one that’s not just entertaining, but also has the power to change your view of the world. Sher is one of the most creat...
Listen
Jeremy Irons: Thespian and Provocateur from 2018-02-26T08:01
The star of theater, film and television talks about how acting has allowed him the life of a vagabond and the ability to challenge the status quo. He tells the story of his childhood on a rural E...
Listen
Dorothy Hamill and Scott Hamilton: The Price of Gold from 2018-02-12T08:01
Two of the greatest figure skaters to ever grace Olympic ice explain why winning a gold medal was not the absolute triumph you might think. For both Hamill (’76) and Hamilton (’84), skating offered...
Listen
Sue Grafton: The Alphabet Ends at Y from 2018-01-29T08:01
Sue Grafton wrote a mystery for every letter of the alphabet but one. When she died in December of 2017, she left her fans with the ultimate cliffhanger: there would be no book for the letter Z. I...
Listen
Maya Lin: The Art of Remembrance from 2018-01-15T08:05
When Maya Lin’s design was chosen for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1981, it sparked a political firestorm in Washington. The design was almost quashed, but Maya Lin - only 21 at the time - fou...
Listen
Anthony M. Kennedy: Principles of Freedom from 2017-12-18T08:01
Justice Anthony Kennedy, often the deciding vote in critical Supreme Court cases - from abortion to campaign finance to same-sex marriage - talks about his path to the judiciary. He also eloquently...
Listen
Itzhak Perlman: The Gift of Music from 2017-11-20T08:01
For the past 60 years - ever since he made his American debut at 13 - Itzhak Perlman has made classical music fans swoon. He is not only one of the greatest violinists of all time, but also a charm...
Listen
Esperanza Spalding and Wayne Shorter: Jazz Invention from 2017-10-23T07:01
Esperanza Spalding - bass player, composer, lyricist and singer - is one of the most exciting artists in contemporary jazz. Wayne Shorter is a legendary saxophonist and composer whose career began...
Listen
James Earl Jones: The Voice of Triumph from 2017-09-25T07:01
When James Earl Jones speaks, his voice reverberates so deeply that you can almost feel it in your own chest. Think Darth Vader. For 60 years now, Jones has been captivating audiences with that v...
Listen
General Colin Powell: My American Journey from 2017-09-11T07:01
Colin Powell has worn many hats, among them: Secretary of State, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and National Security Advisor. He was the first African-American to hold each of those positi...
Listen
Barbra Streisand and Pat Conroy: The Way We Were from 2017-08-28T07:01
Barbra Streisand is one of the greatest entertainers of all time. In the early 1990's, she forged an unlikely friendship with novelist Pat Conroy, when they collaborated on the movie version of hi...
Listen
Jeff Bezos: Regret Minimization from 2017-08-14T07:01
When Jeff Bezos had the idea to start an online bookstore, he was working in a secure job on Wall Street. The internet was still young, and the average person had never made a purchase online. Bezo...
Listen
Louise Glück: Revenge Against Circumstance from 2017-07-31T07:01
Louise Glück uses simple, unsentimental language in her poems to evoke overwhelming emotions. That rare combination is what has distinguished her as one of America's greatest living poets, for ove...
Listen
Naomi Judd: Dream Chaser from 2017-07-17T07:01
Naomi Judd's life has had more ups and downs than a rollercoaster. For eight glorious years, she and her daughter Wynonna were the biggest country music sensation of the 1980's, with fourteen numb...
Listen
Robert Langer: Edison of Medicine from 2017-06-19T07:01
Some of Robert Langer's inventions sound like the stuff of science fiction: "smart" pills that can release medicine by remote control... organs and bone, coaxed into growing on polymer scaffolds. ...
Listen
Frank McCourt: Teacher Man from 2017-05-22T07:01
No one could tell a story better than Frank McCourt. His first book, Angela's Ashes, remains one of the most compelling accounts of poverty, alcoholism, and the longing for a better life. It won ...
Listen
Nora Ephron: Unstoppable Wit from 2017-04-24T07:01
Nora Ephron knew just how to make people laugh and cry and kvell. But mostly laugh. She wrote some of the greatest romantic comedies of all time, including "When Harry Met Sally" and "Sleepless i...
Listen
Bill Russell: Giant of a Man from 2017-04-10T07:00
The most astonishing winning streak in the history of sports, belonged to the Boston Celtics. They won eleven championships between 1957 and 1969, eight of those in a row. And the player at the c...
Listen
Sonia Sotomayor: Power of Words from 2017-03-27T07:01
Justice Sonia Sotomayor tells the extraordinary story of her voyage from the most dangerous neighborhood in the United States, to the highest court in the land -- a voyage fueled by the power of ...
Listen
Sally Field: Embracing Fear from 2017-03-13T07:01
Sally Field is one of the best actresses in America... on film, on television and on stage. She's won Emmy Awards and Academy Awards, and has had starring roles on Broadway. But early in her caree...
Listen
Reid Hoffman: Silicon Valley Grandmaster from 2017-02-27T08:01
LinkedIn changed the way people navigate the world of work. It's hard to even remember the days (though not that long ago) when jobseekers opened the back of a newspaper to scan the help wanted ad...
Listen
August Wilson and Lloyd Richards: The Voice of Genius from 2017-02-13T08:01
Meet two giants of the American theater: playwright August Wilson and director Lloyd Richards. Together they brought many award-winning plays to Broadway, including "Fences," "Ma Rainey's Black B...
Listen
Chuck Jones: The Fine Art of Laughter from 2017-01-30T08:01
Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Pepé Le Pew were all brought to life in the hands of Chuck Jones. If there's a Loony Tunes or a Merrie Melodies cartoon that you carry in your heart, Jones was probab...
Listen
Jane Goodall: A Dedicated Pursuit from 2017-01-16T08:01
As a girl in England, Jane Goodall dreamed of traveling to Africa to study animals in the wild. In 1960, that dream brought her to Tanzania, to observe the wild chimpanzees at Gombe Stream Park. A...
Listen
Maya Angelou: Righteousness and Love from 2016-12-19T08:01
Maya Angelou took the harshest experiences in her life and turned them into words of triumph, justice and hope. Her memoirs and her poems told of her survival, and uplifted people around the world...
Listen
Thomas Keller: Recipe for Success from 2016-11-21T08:01
When Thomas Keller was a dishwasher, he learned all the basic lessons he'd need to become one of America's greatest chefs and restaurateurs. Keller owns The French Laundry and Per Se, two of the o...
Listen
Frank O. Gehry: Building the Inspiring Space from 2016-10-24T10:00
If you can name one living architect, it's probably Frank Gehry. Gehry has designed some of the world's most recognizable and beloved buildings... buildings that are surprising and playful, like t...
Listen
John Irving: A Literary Life from 2016-10-10T10:00
One of America's greatest living novelists begins every book by writing the the last sentence first. In this episode, John Irving, author of The World According to Garp, A Prayer for Owen Meany, ...
Listen
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Justice For All from 2016-09-26T10:00
In this episode, you'll hear Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg tell the very personal story of her lifelong pursuit of justice and equality for women. Her tale includes trips to the librar...
Listen
Wynton Marsalis: Philosopher King of Jazz from 2016-09-12T10:00
Wynton Marsalis has been THE preeminent name in jazz for the past 30 years. The Louisiana-born trumpeter has made it his life's work to bring jazz back from the brink of neglect, to its rightful p...
Listen
Steven Rosenberg: Finding a Cure for Cancer from 2016-08-29T10:00
One of the greatest revolutions in the treatment of cancer is underway. It's called immunotherapy, and the revolutionary behind it is Dr. Steven Rosenberg. Dr. Rosenberg has been the Chief of Surg...
Listen
Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush: The Freedom to Lead from 2016-08-15T10:24
In the midst of this political season… here’s a chance to hear two former U.S. Presidents hold forth on their lives in public service. Bill Clinton spoke to hundreds of graduate students from 50 na...
Listen
Elie Wiesel: A Light in the Darkness from 2016-07-18T10:00
After World War II, when few survivors of the Holocaust were willing or able to describe what they’d been through, Elie Wiesel decided silence was not an option. Even if words could never adequatel...
Listen
Olivia de Havilland: The Last Belle of Cinema from 2016-06-20T10:00
There is only one surviving superstar from the Golden Age of Hollywood: Olivia de Havilland. The actress who portrayed Melanie Hamilton in "Gone With The Wind" (and admit it: you liked Melanie be...
Listen
Quincy Jones: The Music Man from 2016-05-23T10:00
Quincy Jones’s fingerprints are all over America’s popular music. If you like Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, or hundreds of other artists...
Listen
Barry Scheck: The Innocence Project from 2016-04-25T10:00
The Innocence Project has freed 1000’s of people serving time in prison for crimes they did not commit.
Thousands. People who were misidentified by eyewitnesses, or were manipulated into false...
Carol Burnett: Laughter and Reflection from 2016-04-11T10:00
Whether you grew up watching The Carol Burnett Show, or your parents did, this comedian, actress, singer and writer is someone you want to get to know better. Burnett broke new ground when she la...
Listen
Coach John Wooden: Character for Life from 2016-03-28T10:00
During March Madness, can you think of anything more satisfying to do between games than listen to an interview with legendary coach John Wooden?! Wooden led UCLA to more NCAA championships than a...
Listen
Steve Jobs and Tony Fadell: Inventing the Future from 2016-03-14T10:00
In this episode, an intimate history of two pocket-sized devices that changed the world, and the two men who created them: Steve Jobs and Tony Fadell. Jobs famously co-founded Apple. In the late ...
Listen
Sidney Poitier: Trailblazing Screen Legend from 2016-02-27T11:00
Sidney Poitier changed America’s view of black men. And he changed Hollywood (though the change is far from over, given the issues of diversity at this year’s Oscars.). The star of “Guess Who’s C...
Listen
Lauryn Hill: Family, Faith & Hip-Hop from 2016-02-15T11:00
Lauryn Hill has had an outsized impact on the world of hip-hop, soul and R&B. She entered the music world in the mid-1990’s as one third of the band The Fugees, and soon after released a solo albu...
Listen
Coretta Scott King: The Courage to Dream from 2016-01-18T11:00
As Mrs. King says, she wasn’t just married to Martin Luther King Jr., she was married to the cause. Their partnership in life, in faith, and in the struggle for justice and human rights, changed th...
Listen
Archbishop Desmond Tutu: The Power of Faith from 2015-12-21T11:00
Desmond Tutu was the moral force that helped bring down Apartheid in South Africa. As a young priest, he was not very political, despite the fact that he’d grown up under the most brutal form of se...
Listen
William McRaven: A Life of Service from 2015-11-23T11:00
"There are some things in life you control. I don't know that you control the sweeping hands of destiny." Admiral William "Bill" McRaven's destiny was to plan and oversee the raid that killed Osa...
Listen
Mike (Coach K) Krzyzewski: Inspiring Greatness from 2015-10-26T10:00
Coach K, as Mike Krzyzewski is best known, has more wins than any other men's basketball coach in the NCAA. He’s placed his team - the Duke University Blue Devils - in five consecutive Final Fours...
Listen
B.B. King: King of the Blues from 2015-10-12T10:00
BB King began life as a humble Mississippi cotton farmer, and ended up one of the most influential guitarists and singers of the past century. Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Bonnie Rai...
Listen
Benazir Bhutto: Paying the Ultimate Price from 2015-09-28T10:00
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in 2007, just after she returned from exile in the hopes of becoming Prime Minister of Pakistan for the third time. She had held the position for the first time in t...
Listen
Jonas Salk: Vanquisher of Polio from 2015-09-21T10:00
Before Jonas Salk created the Polio vaccine, thousands of children died every year or were left paralyzed by the virus (adults too). In 1952 alone, there were 58,000 cases in the United States. Wh...
Listen
Oprah Winfrey: The Queen of Talk… and Determination from 2015-08-31T10:00
“Fourth grade is when I first began to believe in myself… I felt I could control the world.”
On this episode of “What It Takes,” Oprah Winfrey talks frankly about the inner voice that allow...
Willie Mays: For the Love of the Game from 2015-08-24T10:00
Baseball fans may argue to this day about which was the best of Willie Mays’ many spectacular catches, but nearly all agree — he was one of the most versatile, virtuosic players of all time. In thi...
Listen
Johnny Cash: True To His Own Voice from 2015-08-17T10:00
Johnny Cash had a voice that could make a mountain quake. His impact on the world of music is legendary. On this episode, you'll hear the deeply introspective Cash near the end of his career (1993...
Listen